


More Than One Way to Fall

by undecideablenature



Category: Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Detective Saihara Shuichi, Domestic Fluff, Ex-Thief Ouma Kokichi, I'll bite, Kinda, Kissing, M/M, Minor Swearing, Mystery, Phantom Thief AU, Post-Phantom Thief AU, Slight Kokichi event spoilers, but if you blink you'll miss it, but not actually, nothing related to game plot tho, one kind of suggestive joke, prankster Kokichi, we spell this shit Ouma cuz it makes more sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 09:38:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16532048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undecideablenature/pseuds/undecideablenature
Summary: After two years in pursuit of the famous Phantom Thief, Detective Saihara Shuichi and Ouma Kokichi finally pulled the trigger and started dating. A year later and things are still going as smoothly as they can with an overthinking detective and an incurable prankster.Honestly I just wanna see Rat Baby™ happy in a nice, clean fic. So this gets a little corny, not porny. Fair warning.





	More Than One Way to Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Like the summary said, this is just good ol' oumasai. With some humor that is typical for their characters. If, ya'know, they weren't in a killing game.. The ending may bit a little rushed, but please enjoy. (I may edit and add on to the end at some point. Who knows.)
> 
> I do, however, plan to write a prequel to this during Phantom Thief AU
> 
> P.S. For anyone who understands Japanese,  
> It has been too long since I have actively been able to speak it with other people. Please excuse any mistakes/awkward phrasing. Love confessions were never my forte anyway.

The faint sound of metal scraping metal carried through the tiny apartment’s walls into Shuichi’s bedroom. The detective lay still in bed, his even breaths visible through the blankets covering him, undisturbed by the morning’s early start. Though asleep, it was only a matter of time before his instincts alerted him to the disturbance. 

As if on queue, Shuichi peered up from beneath his blanket towards his nightstand. 5:42. 

A quite groan left Shuichi as he rolled over onto his left side, pulling his blanket to cover his head in the process. 

The noises were coming from the kitchen. Most likely. The only other rooms in the apartment were the bathroom and the shared living/kitchen space. The bathroom was positioned behind the wall to the foot of his bed, but the noise clearly originated from the direction he faced. Behind the bedroom door. 

Based on the metallic scraping, that left only the kitchen. Unless, by some very small chance, the sofa, kotatsu, or desk in the living area managed to make metallic noise. Seeing as those were all wood or cloth, Shuichi thought it near impossible. Then again, there were the sliding doors to the closet that lined the same wall as his bedroom’s. But the track on the doors would probably make a sound more akin to a squeak than a scrape. Moreover, the culprit behind the noise would have to constantly open and close the doors to match the frequency with which the scraping sounded. 

This brought Shuichi to his next point of concern, the culprit. The reason he rolled back over in bed, instead of jumping for the closet near his nightstand to grab his work belt and gun to fight off the offending cat burglar. Ouma Kokichi. 

An actual cat burglar in his own right, though now retired, Ouma Kokichi was nothing more than an overzealous boyfriend at most. Had Kokichi not given up his thieving antics after they began dating, Shuichi might have worried a little bit about what his boyfriend could possibly be plotting. Kokichi, however, was on the straight and narrow now. 

“Ouma Kokichi,” Shuichi sighed, already half-asleep. “On the straight and narrow.” His thoughts swirled as his mind fought to stay awake. Fought to fall back to sleep. Stay in reality. Fall into dreamworld. 

Shuichi’s eyes shot back open. Throwing the covers off his body, he clamored out of bed. His limbs were still somewhat debilitated from sleep and a late work-night prior. Feeling his body drop ever so slightly as he left the bed, Shuichi had to use one hand to steady himself, momentarily touching the floor. 

Kokichi? On the straight and narrow?? What dream fantasy was he conjuring up!? Sure, Kokichi gave up burglary and all other _illegal_ crimes, but that most certainly did not extend to who Ouma Kokichi was at his core. Ouma Kokichi feasted on lies and deceit. Without crime to keep him busy, that left a lot of Kokichi’s mischievous pranks to fall onto Shuichi. Just what that rat bastard could be up to Shuichi didn’t know, but he sure as hell was not about to give him the upper hand by falling back asleep. Shuichi could see through Kokichi’s compulsive lies, majority of the time. When it came to his tricks, however, whoever got the head start determined the outcome. Still, Shuichi would do his best not to fall victim to whatever prank it was this time. 

In as near fluid of a movement as a half asleep body and a hyper alert mind could generate, Shuichi found himself at his bedroom door. Considering how quickly that happened, it was a bit of a surprise he did it without falling face first onto the carpet. Miraculous even. 

He creaked the door open just a crack to peer out across the living area into the kitchen. A small figure stood in the kitchen, facing the corner stove. His back to Shuichi, whatever was in Kokichi’s arms remained a mystery. But the scraping sound did clearly originate there. 

Realizing that no amount of sleuthing from his doorway was going to expose what Kokichi was up to, Shuichi moved towards the counter that separated the kitchen area from the living one. 

“Ah, Ouma-kun, isn’t it a little early to make breakfast?” Leaning into the floating bar space that lined the living room side of the counter, Shuichi continued, “You didn’t even tell me you were coming over.” 

Kokichi turned around, bright smile as if he could not be happier Shuichi finally decided to join him, “Saihara-chan!” 

As fast as Shuichi saw that smile, it disappeared. Replaced by tears welling up in his eyes, a furrowed brow, and a slight grimace, Kokichi spoke softly, “Can I not surprise my one true love on his birthday with a breakfast in bed?” 

“Well, of course you can, but—” 

Tears burst out of Kokichi with more gusto than Shuichi was used to, “Uwaaaa! Saihara-chan, I knew it! You hate me. You don’t believe me. I even had to lock pick my way into here, because you think I’m not trustworthy enough to have a key.” His voice, though at first loud enough to wake every last neighbor in the apartment complex, trailed off by the end. Shuichi could swear he was almost serious this time. 

“Ouma-kun,” Shuichi started, a hand reaching tentatively over the counter. “Of course I don’t hate you.” 

“Then you’ve forgotten your love for me!” 

“Ouma-kun. My birthday was two months ago. I turned twenty-five and we celebrated it together.” 

“Nee-shishi,” Kokichi grinned bringing his free hand to hold his index finger over his mouth. “Aawww...you're not shaken up at all. And here I thought I’d get you all flustered.” 

Shuichi ignored Kokichi’s attempts to keep this game going and looked to Kokichi’s right arm. Bowl in tow and a whisk resting in some kind of batter, Shuichi raised an eyebrow. “What exactly are you making for breakfast, then.” 

Kokichi’s eyes lit up and answered, “Pancakes! Only the best for my Saihara-chan. I only make your favorites, after all.” 

“...”  
“That’s a lie! Man, Shuichi, I got you there. How could you forget what your favorite 

breakfast food is? Pancakes are _my_ favorite.” 

“...” 

“Got you again! Gosh, Shuichi, how can you be so gullible? And forgetful! Pancakes are our _joint_ favorite food. Since waffles are too,” Kokichi motioned abstractly and took a slight pause, “crunchy or some other stupid lie. And I of course refuse to admit any food you like is my favorite out of spite and respect for the deliciousness of waffles. Soooo pancakes we decided. And that’s the truth.” 

_Ah this passive-aggressive brat,_ Shuichi thought. But he was telling the truth at the end. It made sense too, judging from the batter and all. The whisk in the bowl must have been the scraping sound that woke him up. 

“ _Now_ , Mr. Detective,” Kokichi emphasized each syllable of his title tauntingly, as if to fully emphasis to Shuichi he was, indeed, in a battle of wits. “If you’ll excuse me, I do have a breakfast to finish making, and if you don’t want to see these pancakes I already have done get cold, then you best let me get to it. I doubt you want to eat lukewarm pancakes, or, gasp, cold pancakes!” He brought his free hand up to his cheek in horror. 

“Besides,” Kokichi continued, “I’ve already told you I can’t taste most food because of a birth defect, but that was only half the truth.” Kokichi let his head fall, a dark shadow following under the hair that fell with it. “I can’t eat foods that aren’t at their right temperature either. It developed later in life. Likely due to psychological stress from not being able to taste most foods.” 

Lifting his head back up, closing his eyes to the ceiling, and shaking his fist, Kokichi went on, “I can’t even eat cold pizza.” He stopped for a few seconds, only to tack on “or can I?” with a laugh to accompany. 

“Alright, alright.” Shuichi gave in. “Get back to work. Is there anything I can help with?” Looking around, Shuichi noticed the mess of dishes across the kitchen in the sink that had otherwise been empty the night before. He looked down at the counter on the other side of the wall divide he leaned against. Flour and sugar spilled out of their respective containers and coffee grounds were scattered around the machine. 

“Maybe with cleanup?” 

“Aww,” Kokichi sang without turning from his meticulous work. Or at least he made it look that way with how he poured pancake batter into the frying pan—tongue poking out, eyes focused, and the start of a sweat bead forming on his forehead. “That would be so sweet, Shuichi. But don’t you worry your pretty little self about anything. I’m nothing but a gentleman and wouldn’t want you to lift a finger.” 

Sensing the increasing sarcasm in Kokichi’s voice, Shuichi moved to start with the counter in front of him. Not that he really minded. Kokichi was nice enough to make him food, but more importantly this gave him the chance to look for clues into what exactly Kokichi was plotting. 

Shuichi walked around the divider wall, into the kitchen, and back over to the counter. Starting with the bag of flour, he knocked the excess off the bag and folded it in onto itself to close it off. All purpose. Nothing out of the ordinary and not switched out for any other strange white powders. Cornstarch, baking powder and soda, bread flour, and powdered sugar were all a no. 

Moving on to the sugar, Shuichi proceeded to do the same as he had done with the flour. He highly expected Kokichi to already have tampered with the sugar, especially as Shuichi kept it in a separate container than the bag it was sold in. Shuichi took a small amount to his mouth, glancing back quickly to avoid Kokichi noticing but still long enough to make sure Kokichi wasn’t watching him search for clues. He was after all, in Kokichi’s eyes, just helping his wonderful boyfriend who woke up very early, came all the way over to his apartment (all be it by slightly nefarious means), and made him breakfast. 

Kokichi seemed fully engrossed in trying to flip a pancake over, and Shuichi deemed it safe to taste the sugar. Sweet fell over his tastebuds, leaving little evidence that Kokichi messed around with the ingredients. 

The other ingredients in pancakes were pretty straight forward, milk, butter, and eggs. All of which Shuichi knew were not past the expiration date. And from when he cleaned up the spilled flour and sugar, Shuichi also knew the garbage showed no signs of Kokichi bringing his own ingredients to use that were. 

If there was no direct evidence from the ingredients, that left the sink. Several bowls sat in it, accompanied by a few measuring spoons. It looked like Kokichi used the smaller bowls and spoons to measure out ingredients. One large bowl did stand out, as it had some batter left over in it. More importantly that batter looked as if it had been mostly rinsed off. 

“Ouma-kun?” Shuichi leaned over from the sink towards the stove. “Yeah?” Kokichi answered. 

“Why’d you use so many dishes? I’ll barely have enough space to dry them all,” Shuichi let himself sound a little flustered, hoping Kokichi wouldn’t notice the duality of his question. 

The pancakes finished before he woke up, Kokichi made a fresh bowl of batter after those were done... Shuichi needed to gauge Kokichi’s answer here, lest he wanted to end up with pancakes made from who knows what. 

“Wow, Saihara-chan, who would have thought you could sound so whiney.” “I do not—” 

“Kidding!” Kokichi nee-shishied. “The first recipe I tried only made enough for one pancake. Can you believe it? So I obviously had make a different recipe. I started cleaning out the bowl for it, but I got soooo bored. Well actually that’s a lie. I got worried the water would be too loud and wake you, so I just grabbed another bowl and started mixing away. And that’s when you came out!” 

Kokichi’s expression dropped slightly, “Guess being quiet didn’t work after all. I still couldn’t surprise you, and now you’re even cleaning up my mess.” 

Once again tears started to well up in his Kokichi’s eyes. Crying twice in one prank wasn’t really how Kokichi did things. Was he really upset he woke up Shuichi? 

“Ouma-kun,” Shuichi started hesitantly, “I really don’t mind helping. I know I complained a little bit there, but I really am happy you made breakfast. So, please, don’t feel bad. I like helping. See? Look. I am already starting on the dishes.” 

A grin spread across Kokichi’s face, and he let out a laugh, “Nee-shishi.” 

Shuichi turned back to the sink. _Shit_. He wasn’t expecting that sort of answer from Kokichi. Maybe Kokichi really did just want to surprise him with a nice breakfast. Shuichi was stuck late at the office most nights for the past month and a half, working on a serious case. Because of work, he hadn’t spent as much time with Kokichi as either of them would prefer. Actually, now that he thought about it, it was surprising 

Kokichi didn’t try something sooner. 

Shuichi felt a pair of arms slink around his waist, grabbing around him in a tight hold. Kokichi wormed his head out from under Shuichi’s arm and cocked it to the side to smile up at him. 

“W-wha—” Shuichi felt heat rush to his face, and he was sure Kokichi would notice. 

“If you really want to help _,”_ feeling bit cheeky, Kokichi squeezed tighter, _“and_ not make me feel bad, why don’t you go set the kotatsu with some plates and the coffee I made. I’m finishing up the last pancake now, and I’ll get the rest of the dirty dishes. Can’t have my precious Saihara-chan getting shriveled fingers, now can I? I need your fingers in _perfect_ condition for...later. Nee-shishi” 

Before Shuichi could even react or process how embarrassed he should feel, Kokichi abruptly dropped his arms and bumped Shuichi away from the sink towards the coffee maker on the counter. 

Duly noted. 

He grabbed the two mugs of black coffee. He still needed to clean the mess of grounds off the counter after they ate. Placing the mugs on the table, Shuichi returned for plates and silverware. Setting up each, he watched Kokichi bring over a stack of pancakes and the smaller container of sugar they kept for coffee and tea. 

Dammit, he didn’t check that. If Kokichi used the sugar, it would be fine. But, otherwise, it looked like a black coffee morning. 

“Sit, sit,” Kokichi chirped. 

Shuichi complied and sat across from him at the kotatsu, facing away from the kitchen. Kokichi lifted two pancakes onto Shuichi’s plate and two on his own. The whole time singing something about “two for you, two for me. Plenty more if you’re still hungry.” 

Shuichi looked down at his plate. 

_Nee-shishi._

It was so faint he couldn’t be sure he heard it, but if he did, then Kokichi definitely—so then he was—yes! The bowl with the batter, a pancake recipe somehow only making one pancake, pushing him away from the dishes, not making fun of him for his blush, trying to fluster him with that comment. Kokichi definitely messed with his pancakes, and now he’d be falling for his prank if he didn’t act soon. 

“Ah!” Kokichi shouted, breaking Shuichi’s train of thought. “Forgot the butter. And the syrup. Let me just quickly grab those.” 

“No, no,” Shuichi quickly interjected. Spotting his opening for escape, he reached his arm out to stop Kokichi from getting up towards the kitchen. “I’m closer anyway, let me.” 

“No, no,” Kokichi pushed back. “I’ll diieee if you do. Okay. I wont die. But I will be sad and thats not a lie, okay?” 

“See, you _won’t_ die, but I,” Shuichi trailed off trying to think of any excuse. “I will!” Fantastic. Great work Mr. Detective. 

Kokichi jerked his head to the side and looked at Shuichi as if he had given him one of the greatest, most amusing insults he’d ever received. “Oh, Mr. Detective, did you really try to lie to me? And so poorly?” 

“I, uh,” Shuichi stumbled for words. “I, uh... Yes?” 

“Well then. I’ll definitely be going to grab the toppings.” Kokichi shook his head in disbelief, standing up to head for the kitchen. “And you can stay right here and sit and think about what I could have possibly done to deserve such a failure of a liar as my boyfriend.” 

_This was it,_ Shuichi thought. He managed to catch Kokichi off guard and hopefully occupy his mind enough that he wouldn’t focus on him for a few seconds. That was it. Just the fifteen seconds it would take to walk to the fridge before he turned around to come back. The plate switch had to be fast and it had to be silent. 

Shuichi waited with bated breath as Kokichi came back. Spreading butter on his pancakes, he watched as Kokichi poured what looked like a month’s worth of sugar content of maple syrup onto his own. Then, he took a bite. 

And another, and another. _No wait that would mean..._ Shuichi hurriedly shoveled a piece of his own pancake into his mouth. It was...fine? It made no sense. Everything about this morning pointed to Kokichi planning something. So why, _why_ was he wrong? It wasn’t the pancakes, but he had been so sure. Kokichi already poured an abnormally large amount of sugar into his coffee, so it wasn’t that either. 

Then. Then it had to be nothing? _Shit,_ Shuichi had made such a fool of himself. He knew Kokichi would just find it amusing. But he really prided himself on being able to read Kokichi. Figure out what he was really thinking. Shuichi’d been so busy with work and they had been spending less time together. But did he really fall that out of sync with him? 

Kokichi noticed the increasingly tired expression growing on Shuichi’s face and he encouraged him to eat more of his pancakes. Sweets always made everything better. 

Starting to zone out and overthink the details of the morning, Shuichi somehow managed to listen to Kokichi and shoved another piece of pancake into his mouth. 

_What he had missed? Was it the butter? Was it nothing? Did Ouma know he’d switch the pancakes? There’s no way he could have. That’s too damn scary._

“FU— OW. What the heck, Kokichi. Did you put rocks in these??” “Nee-shishi. Not exactly.” 

Grabbing a napkin Shuichi spit out whatever had just tried to split his tooth. He crumpled up the napkin and went over the the sink to rinse out his mouth. The rock had scraped his gums a bit on his bite down. 

Shuichi forced a laugh, and couldn’t stop. “Man, you got me this time, Ouma-kun.” Kokichi walked over to Shuichi. “So lame. You actually tried to eat it.” 

Offended for reasons Shuichi couldn’t explain to Kokichi, Shuichi tried to defend himself, “Well I figured you messed with something. And I assumed it was the pancakes. But I never assumed _you’d_ assume I would switch the pancakes at the last second.” Another brief laugh. “So guess you won this round.” 

“LAAAAAMME,” Kokichi stood on his tiptoes to get as close to Shuichi’s face as possible. Despite Shuichi’s surprise and him almost falling back into the sink, Kokichi continued, “Woohoo I won! You’re right! You couldn’t outsmart the almighty Me. By the way, I’m using the royal Me there. It’s like the royal We, only it’s for Me and Me only.” 

Shuichi relaxed a little bit and leaned back to an upright position. “Okay, okay, I get it, Ouma,” he followed with a laugh, less forced this time. 

“No. You. Don’t. You big dummy. Gosh, you’re being a bigger idiot than that heiress airhead I stole millions of yen worth of invention blueprints from. Mr. De-tec-tive, this game still isn’t over. You’re just too stuck in your own head to see that.” 

Shuichi looked back at Kokichi, confused. Too stuck in his head? Well, Kokichi wasn’t wrong. It was a habit he’d never quite been able to break. But if the game was still going then...then the only piece of evidence he didn’t look at was whatever he bit down on. 

Grabbing the napkin, he opened it under the running water. 

From behind him, he heard a quiet, “Ew. Uh, sorry this is gross. You were supposed to notice BEFORE you shoved it into your mouth. Guess I’m just glad you weren’t so out of it you swallowed it whole.” 

Shuichi felt butterflies building in his stomach. _Kokichi, what did you plan.  
_When everything cleared away from the rock, Shuichi was left staring at a small silver 

band.  
“A ring?” 

Turing around, Shuichi met Kokichi who was holding out a bouquet of white chrysanthemums, one arm out and the other behind his back. And was...was he bashfully looking at the ground? 

“Saihara Shuichi, will you do me the honors of living together?” 

If there was anything Shuichi expected from Kokichi when he woke up this morning, this was not it. Unlike his feelings just moments ago, he couldn’t have felt happier he was wrong. That he had not foiled Kokoichi’s plans or found them out. The amount of happiness he felt rushing through his body was far better than solving any of Kokichi’s pranks. 

Left waiting for an answer from Shuichi who was clearly lost in thought (the contents of which Kokichi was entirely unsure), Kokichi tried to push back at the silence, “Well? This ain’t a proposal. Just. I figured it was my turn to chase after you a little. It isn’t anything more than that.” 

“Well?” Kokichi said again, rather impatiently. Nervously? Shoving the flowers forwards again, “I’ll take ‘em back if you don’t grab them in the next five seconds.” 

“I-I want them,” Shuichi hurried. “And I want you. I want us, what we have. Crazy pranks and lies included.” 

“You know living with me will be even worse, right? I lie all the time. I take up over half the bed. I snore. I never cook. I switch out toothpaste for glue. I leave my clothes everywhere and I’ll put holes in yours. I—“ 

Shuichi interrupted him with a peck on the lips, adding afterwards 「どんな未来がある かどうかわからなくても、子吉のことを全部愛している。おまえと ... お前がいれ ばオレは幸せだ。」 

“Heeeh?” Kokichi groaned? “Why English? I can’t understand English. You dummy!” 

Shuichi looked at Kokichi and moved back towards the kotatsu, sitting on the sofa behind it. His head was still spinning. He let it fall back on the seat behind him. 

Eyes closed, he spoke, “Really? The Ultimate Supreme Leader of a super secret world class phantom thief organization doesn’t speak English? Shame.” He gave a long 

pause, trying to drag out just a little bit more of a reaction in Kokichi. “But it’s okay. I’ll say it again. I’ll say it over and over and over again. As many times as you need until you figure it out. _This_ isn’t a game.” 

Kokichi moved over to sit next to Shuichi on the sofa. “Say it again, so I can try to catch a few words.” 

「どんな未来があるかどうかわからなくても、子吉のことを全部愛している。おま えと ... お前がいればオレは幸せだ。」 

“Again.” 

Once more Shuichi repeated the words. Leaving Kokichi with an expression that was lost in thought. 

“I heard my name,” Kokichi paused. “And ‘love’ and ‘happy.’ I’m also pretty sure I heard the word for ‘future.’ But, well, I must admit. For an Ultimate Supreme Leader, my English is shit, so I may be wrong but...” 

Crocodile tears crept back into Kokichi’s eyes, “A-are you saying that you don’t understand how you could have a future with me, because you hate me so much? And you’d love it if I’d just leave? That’d make you so happy? UWAAAA!” 

Shuichi grabbed Kokichi and pulled both of them down onto the sofa, Kokichi falling onto of him, leaving the two face to face. 

“If you wanted to hear me say it again, you could have just said so. What Supreme Leader doesn’t know English. Kokichi, you liar,” Shuichi spoke quietly, pulling him into a kiss. 

“ _Your_ liar, Shuichi, your liar” Kokichi corrected him, before allowing himself to fall deeper back into their kiss. 


End file.
